On Papal Primacy and Infallibility
The Accusations against the Catholic Faith:
Martin Luther [Protestant reformer, founder of Lutheranism, A.D 1483 - 1546]:" If they wish to apply to Peter’s successors everything that was said to Peter, it will follow that they are all Satans." - [Institutes of the Christian Religion (Book IV, chapter 7, section 28)]
The Lutheran Book of Concord: “The pope is the real Antichrist who has raised himself over and set himself against Christ. Accordingly, just as we cannot adore the devil himself as our lord or God, so we cannot suffer his apostle, the pope or Antichrist, to govern us as our head or lord” - (Smalcald Articles 2:4:10, 14).
King Henry VIII [Founder of Anglicanism, A.D. 1491 - 1547]: “The King, our sovereign Lord… shall be taken, accepted, and reputed as the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia... and that our said Lord... shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, redeem... all such errors, heresies, abuses... which by any manner spiritual authority or jurisdiction ought or may lawfully be reformed... any usage, foreign laws, foreign authority... to the authority notwithstanding.” - [Supremacy Act of 1534].
The Presbyterian and Anglican Westminster Confession: “There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ; nor can the pope of Rome in any sense be the head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and that son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God” - (25:6).
John Calvin [Protestant reformer, founder of Calvinism, A.D 1509 - 1564]: “[The church] has Christ as its sole Head, under whose sway all of us cleave to one another, according to that order and that form of polity which he has laid down. They do signal injury to Christ when they would have one man set over the church universal” - [Eph 4:15-16]… (ibid, 1110).
Mark of Ephesus [Eastern Orthodox Saint ‘Pillar of Orthodoxy’, A.D 1392 - 1444]: "Whoever commemorates the Pope as an Orthodox prelate is guilty.” [...] "For us, the Pope is as one of the Patriarchs - and only if he is Orthodox; whereas, they proclaim him Vicar of Christ, Father and Teacher of all Christians. Flee from them, O brethren, and from communion with them. 'For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if even his ministers transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works (2 Cor. 11:13-15).”
Justin Popovich [Eastern Orthodox Saint, A.D. 1894 - 1979]: "Orthodox dogma, that is to say the overriding dogma of the Church, is rejected by them and replaced by the Latin heretical overriding dogma of the primacy and infallibility of the Pope, that is to say, of man. From this pan-heresy, heresies were born and continue to be born: the Filioque (personal note: see 'Filioque: Patristic Consensus’), [etc]" - [Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ, Ch. ‘Humanistic Ecumenism’]
+ Justin Popovich: "Thanks to this dogma, the pope was decisively and clearly pronounced as being something superior – not only to all men, but even to the holy Apostles, the holy Fathers, and the holy Ecumenical Councils." [...] "In Protestantism, the fundamental principle of papism is brought to life by each man individually. After the example of the infallible man in Rome, each Protestant is a cloned infallible man, because he (the protestant) pretends to personal infallibility in matters of faith. It can be said: Protestantism is a vulgarised papism." - [Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ, Ch. ‘Humanistic Ecumenism’].
The Catholic Position:
From Sacred Scripture:
Matthew 16:18-19: “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.”
From the Ecumenical Councils (Professed by schismatics):
Ecumenical Council of Ephesus [A.D. 431]: “Philip, presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See said: We offer our thanks to the holy and venerable Synod, that when the writings of our holy and blessed pope had been read to you, the holy members by our [or your] holy voices, you joined yourselves to the holy head also by your holy acclamations. For your blessedness is not ignorant that the head of the whole faith, the head of the Apostles, is blessed Peter the Apostle.” - [sessions 2]. (Accepted by the council fathers.)
+ Ecumenical Council of Ephesus [A.D. 431]: “Philip the presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See said: There is no doubt, and in fact it has been known in all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince (ἔξαρχος) and head of the Apostles, pillar of the faith, and foundation (θεμέλιος) of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race, and that to him was given the power of loosing and binding sins: who down even to today and forever both lives and judges in his successors. The holy and most blessed pope Cœlestine, according to due order, is his successor and holds his place, and us he sent to supply his place in this holy synod, which the most humane and Christian Emperors have commanded to assemble, bearing in mind and continually watching over the Catholic faith. For they both have kept and are now keeping intact the apostolic doctrine handed down to them from their most pious and humane grandfathers and fathers of holy memory down to the present time, etc.” [Session 2]. (Accepted by the council fathers.)
Ecumenical Council of Calcedon [A.D. 451]: “Paschasinus, the most reverend bishop and legate of the Apostolic See, stood up in the midst with his most reverend colleagues and said: We received directions at the hands of the most blessed and apostolic bishop of the Roman city, which is the head of all the churches.” (Accepted by the council fathers.)
II Ecumenical Council of Nicaea [A.D. 787]: “Therefore, O Most Holy Head [Caput], it is incumbent upon us and you, that irreprehensibly we know the things which be his, and that in these we exercise ourselves, since from him we have received the imperial dignity, and you the dignity of the chief priesthood.” (Accepted by the council fathers.)
+ II Ecumenical Council of Nicaea [A.D. 787]: “But the more, if following the traditions of the orthodox Faith, you embrace the judgement of the Church of blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles, and, as of old your predecessors the holy Emperors acted, so you, too, venerating it with honour, love with all your heart his Vicar, and if your sacred majesty follow by preference their orthodox Faith, according to our holy Roman Church. May the chief of the Apostles himself, to whom the power was given by our Lord God to bind and remit sins in heaven and earth, be often your protector, and trample all barbarous nations under your feet, and everywhere make you conquerors. For let sacred authority lay open the marks of his dignity, and how great veneration ought to be shown to his, the highest See, by all the faithful in the world. For the Lord set him who bears the keys of the kingdom of heaven as chief over all, and by Him is he honoured with this privilege, by which the keys of the kingdom of heaven are entrusted to him. He, therefore, that was preferred with so exalted an honour was thought worthy to confess that Faith on which the Church of Christ is founded. A blessed reward followed that blessed confession, by the preaching of which the holy universal Church was illumined, and from it the other Churches of God have derived the proofs of Faith. For the blessed Peter himself, the chief of the Apostles, who first sat in the Apostolic See, left the chiefship of his Apostolate, and pastoral care, to his successors, who are to sit in his most holy seat forever. And that power of authority, which he received from the Lord God our Saviour, he too bestowed and delivered by divine command to the Pontiffs, his successors, etc. (Accepted by the council fathers.)
+ II Ecumenical Council of Nicaea [A.D. 787]: “But henceforth we advise your most merciful and imperial majesty, that he [the Emperor] be by no means called Universal in your writings, because it appears to be contrary to the institutions of the holy Canons and the decrees of the traditions of the holy Fathers. For he never could have ranked second, save for the authority of our holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, as is plain to all. Because if he [the Emperor] be named Universal, above the holy Roman Church which has a prior rank, which is the head of all the Churches of God, it is certain that he shows himself as a rebel against the holy Councils, and a heretic. For, if he is Universal, he is recognized to have the Primacy even over the Church of our See, which appears ridiculous to all faithful Christians: because in the whole world the chief rank and power was given to the blessed Apostle Peter by the Redeemer of the world himself; and through the same Apostle, whose place we unworthily hold, the holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church holds the first rank, and the authority of power, now and for ever, so that if any one, which we believe not, has called him, or assents to his being called Universal, let him know that he is estranged from the orthodox Faith, and a rebel against our holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” - Epistle of Pope Hadrian. (Accepted by the council fathers.)
III Ecumenical Council of Constantinople [A.D. 680-81]: “For this is the rule of the true faith, which this spiritual mother of your most tranquil empire, the Apostolic Church of Christ, has both in prosperity and in adversity always held and defended with energy; which, it will be proved, by the grace of Almighty God, has never erred from the path of the apostolic tradition, nor has she been depraved by yielding to heretical innovations, but from the beginning she has received the Christian faith from her founders, the princes of the Apostles of Christ, and remains undefiled unto the end, according to the divine promise of the Lord and Saviour himself, which he uttered in the holy Gospels to the prince of his disciples: saying, Peter, Peter, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for you, that (your) faith fail not. And when you are converted, strengthen your brethren. Let your tranquil Clemency therefore consider, since it is the Lord and Saviour of all, whose faith it is, that promised that Peter's faith should not fail and exhorted him to strengthen his brethren, how it is known to all that the Apostolic pontiffs, the predecessors of my littleness, have always confidently done this very thing: of whom also our littleness, since I have received this ministry by divine designation, wishes to be the follower, although unequal to them and the least of all.” (Accepted by the council fathers.)
Solemn Declarations of the Dogmas of Papal Primacy & Infallibility:
I Vatican Council [A.D. 1870]: “We teach and declare that, according to the gospel evidence, a primacy of jurisdiction over the whole Church of God was immediately and directly promised to the blessed apostle Peter and conferred on him by Christ the Lord” (Session 4).
I Vatican Council [A.D. 1870]: “Therefore, faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith, to the glory of God our saviour, for the exaltation of the Catholic religion and for the salvation of the Christian people, with the approval of the Sacred Council, we teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that when the Roman Pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA (from the chair), that is, when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church, he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his Church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the Church, irreformable. So then, should anyone, which God forbid, have the temerity to reject this definition of ours: let him be anathema.”
From the Saints [Professed by Schismatics]:
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, [108 - 140 AD]: “To the church also which holds the presidency, in the location of the country of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honour, worthy of blessing, worthy of praise, worthy of success, worthy of sanctification, and, because you hold the presidency in love, named after Christ and named after the Father. - Letter to the Romans 1:1 [A.D. 110].
Saint Clement of Alexandria, [150 - 215 AD]: “[T]he blessed Peter, the chosen, the preeminent, the first among the disciples, for whom alone with himself the Savior paid the tribute [Matt. 17:27], quickly grasped and understood their meaning. And what does he say? ‘Behold, we have left all and have followed you’ [Matt. 19:27; Mark 10:28]” - Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 21:3–5 [A.D. 200].
+ Saint Clement of Alexandria: [T]he Lord said to Peter, ‘On this rock I will build my Church, I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven [and] whatever you shall have bound or loosed on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven’ [Matt. 16:18–19]. . . . Upon you, he says, I will build my Church; and I will give to you the keys, not to the Church.” - Modesty 21:9–10 [A.D. 220].
Saint Irenaeus, [130 - 202 AD]: “But since it would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the succession of all the churches, we shall confound all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organised at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, that church which has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having been announced to men by the apostles. With that church, because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree, that is, all the faithful in the whole world, and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition. - Against Heresies 3:3:2 [A.D. 189].
Saint Cyprian, [210 - 258 AD]: “On [Peter] [Christ] builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep, and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were also what Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all [the apostles] are shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?” - The Unity of the Catholic Church 4; 1st edition [A.D. 251].
Pope Saint Damasus I [305 - 384 AD]: “The holy Roman Church has been placed at the forefront not by the conciliar decisions of other churches, but has received the primacy by the evangelic voice of our Lord and Savior, who says: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it; and I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven’ [Matt. 16:18–19]. The first see, therefore, is that of Peter the apostle, that of the Roman Church, which has neither stain nor blemish nor anything like it.” - Decree of Damasus 3 [A.D. 382]
Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, [293 - 373 AD]: Rome is called “the Apostolic throne.” - Hist. Arian, ad Monach. n. 35 [A.D. 362].
Saint Ephrem the Syrian, [306 - 373 AD]: “[Jesus said:] Simon, my follower, I have made you the foundation of the holy Church. I betimes called you Peter, because you will support all its buildings. You are the inspector of those who will build on Earth a Church for me. If they should wish to build what is false, you, the foundation, will condemn them. You are the head of the fountain from which my teaching flows; you are the chief of my disciples. Through you I will give drink to all peoples. Yours is that life-giving sweetness which I dispense. I have chosen you to be, as it were, the firstborn in my institution so that, as the heir, you may be executor of my treasures. I have given you the keys of my kingdom. Behold, I have given you authority over all my treasures.” - Homilies 4:1 [A.D. 351].
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem [313 - 386 AD]: “In the power of the same Holy Spirit, Peter, both the chief of the apostles and the keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, in the name of Christ healed Aeneas the paralytic at Lydda, which is now called Diospolis; and at Joppa he raised the beneficent Tabitha from the dead.” (Catechetical Lectures [350 AD] 6:14 and 17:27).
Saint Ambrose of Milan [339 - 397 AD]: “[Christ] made answer: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church’ Could he not, then, strengthen the faith of the man to whom, acting on his own authority, he gave the kingdom, whom he called the rock, thereby declaring him to be the foundation of the Church [Matt. 16:18]?” - [The Faith, 379 A.D.]
+ Saint Ambrose of Milan: “It is to Peter that He says: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church’ (Matthew 16:18). Where Peter is, there is the Church. And where the Church, no death is there, but life eternal.” [Commentary on Twelve Psalms of David, 389 A.D.]
Saint Jerome,[347 - 420 AD]: “one among the twelve is chosen to be their head in order to remove any occasion for division.” - Against Jovinian 1:26 [A.D. 393]
+ Saint Jerome: “I follow no leader but Christ and join in communion with none but your blessedness [Pope Damasus I], that is, with the chair of Peter. I know that this is the rock on which the Church has been built. Whoever eats the Lamb outside this house is profane. Anyone who is not in the ark of Noah will perish when the flood prevails.” - Letters 15:2 [A.D. 396].
Saint John Chrysostom [347 - 407 AD]: “Peter, that head of the Apostles, the first in the Church, the friend of Christ, who received the revelation not from man but from the Father….this Peter, and when I say Peter, I mean the unbroken Rock, the unshaken foundation, the great apostle, the first of the disciples, the first called, the first to obey.” (De Eleemos III, 4, vol II, 298[300])
+ Saint John Chrysostom: “Our Lord passing by the rest, addresses this command to Peter: he being the chief of the Apostles, the mouth of the disciples, and head of the college. Our Lord remembers no more his sin in denying Him, or brings that as a charge against him, but commits to him at once the superintendence over his brethren. If you love Me, have rule over your brethren, show forth that love which you have evidenced throughout, and that life which you said you would lay down for Me, lay down for the sheep. A third time He asks the same question, and gives the same command; to show of what importance He esteems the superintendence of His own sheep, and how He regards it as the greatest proof of love to Him.” [on John 21:15-17]
+ Saint John Chrysostom: “Peter, having been put in trust by Christ with the flock, and as having precedence in honour, he always begins the discourse.” - [on Acts of Apostles 1:15]
Saint Augustine. [354 - 430 AD]: “Some things are said which seem to relate especially to the apostle Peter, and yet are not clear in their meaning unless referred to the Church, which he is acknowledged to have represented in a figure on account of the primacy which he [Peter] bore among the disciples. Such is ‘I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,’ and other similar passages. - Commentary on Psalm 108 1 [A.D. 415].
+ Saint Augustine: “Who is ignorant that the first of the apostles is the most blessed Peter?” - Commentary on John 56:1 [A.D. 416].
Pope Saint Innocent I, [378 - 417 AD]: “In seeking the things of God… you have acknowledged that judgement is to be referred to us [the pope], and have shown that you know that is owed to the Apostolic See [Rome], if all of us placed in this position are to desire to follow the apostle himself [Peter] from whom the episcopate itself and the total authority of this name have emerged.” - Letters 29:1 [A.D. 408]
Pope Saint Leo the Great, [400 - 461 AD]: “Our Lord Jesus Christ… has placed the principal charge on the blessed Peter, chief of all the apostles, and from him as from the head wishes his gifts to flow to all the body, so that anyone who dares to secede from Peter’s solid rock may understand that he has no part or lot in the divine mystery. He wished him who had been received into partnership in his undivided unity to be named what he himself was, when he said: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church’ [Matt. 16:18]. - Letters 10:1 [A.D. 445] {...} “The Lord desired that the sacrament of this gift should pertain to all the apostles in such a way that it might be found principally in the most blessed Peter, the highest of all the apostles. And he wanted his gifts to flow into the entire body from Peter himself, as if from the head.” - ibid., 10:2–3. [...] “Although bishops have a common dignity, they are not all of the same rank. Even among the most blessed apostles, though they were alike in honour, there was a certain distinction of power. All were equal in being chosen, but it was given to one to be preeminent over the others… [So today through the bishops] the care of the universal Church would converge in the one See of Peter, and nothing should ever be at odds with this head.” - ibid., 14:11
+ Pope Saint Leo the Great: “There is further reason for our celebration: not only the Apostolic but also the episcopal dignity of the most blessed Peter, who does not cease to preside over his see, and obtains an abiding partnership with the eternal priest.” - (Leo’s Sermons 5 – PL 54 153)
+ Pope Saint Leo the Great: “Through the most blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles, the holy Roman church holds the principiate over all the churches of the whole world.”- (Epistle 65, M.P.L. 54.879)
**Canon 28, Council of Calcedon, 451 AD**: ”The bishop of New Rome (Constantinople) shall enjoy the same privileges as the bishop of Old Rome, on account of the removal of the Empire. For this reason the [metropolitans] of Pontus, of Asia, and of Thrace, as well as the Barbarian bishops shall be ordained by the bishop of Constantinople.”
+ Response of Pope Saint Leo the Great: “…But the bishops’ assents (in passing canon 28), which are opposed to the regulations of the holy canons composed at Nicaea, in conjunction with our faithful grace, we do not recognize, and by the blessed Apostle Peter’s authority, we absolutely dis-annul in comprehensive terms…” - Letter to Empress Pulcheria, wife of the Eastern Emperor Marcian.
Saint Maximus the Confessor [580 - 662 AD]: "Therefore if a man does not want to be, or to be called, a heretic, let him not strive to please this or that man ... but let him hasten before all things to be in communion with the Roman See. If he be in communion with it, he should be acknowledged by all and everywhere as faithful and orthodox. He speaks in vain who tries to persuade me of the orthodoxy of those who, like himself, refuse obedience to his Holiness the Pope of the most holy Church of Rome: that is to the Apostolic See.” - [Excerpt from Letter to Peter in PG 91:144BC]
+ Saint Maximus the Confessor: “Let him hasten before all things to satisfy the Roman See, for if it is satisfied, all will agree in calling him pious and orthodox. For he only speaks in vain who thinks he ought to pursuade or entrap persons like myself, and does not satisfy and implore the blessed Pope of the most holy Catholic Church of the Romans, that is, the Apostolic See, which is from the incarnate of the Son of God Himself, and also all the holy synods, accodring to the holy canons and definitions has received universal and surpreme dominion, authority, and power of binding and loosing over all the holy churches of God throughout the whole world.” - (Letter to Peter, in Mansi x, 692).
+ Saint Maximus the Confessor: “The extremities of the earth, and everyone in every part of it who purely and rightly confess the Lord, look directly towards the Most Holy Roman Church and her confession and faith, as to a sun of unfailing light awaiting from her the brilliant radiance of the sacred dogmas of our Fathers, according to that which the inspired and holy Councils have stainlessly and piously decreed. For, from the descent of the Incarnate Word amongst us, all the churches in every part of the world have held the greatest Church alone to be their base and foundation, seeing that, according to the promise of Christ Our Savior, the gates of hell will never prevail against her, that she has the keys of the orthodox confession and right faith in Him, that she opens the true and exclusive religion to such men as approach with piety, and she shuts up and locks every heretical mouth which speaks against the Most High.” - (Opuscula theologica et polemica, Migne, Patr. Graec. vol. 90)